


Christmas colds

by Park_fics



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Comfort, Common Cold, Family Dynamics, Fever, Fluff, Friendship, Platonic Cuddling, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28152060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Park_fics/pseuds/Park_fics
Summary: Tommy and Wilbur meet up in Brighton two days before christmas, but their trip takes a turn when Tommy falls ill..This is an extremely fluffy Christmas fic. Happy holidays and enjoy!![No v*mit, no extreme s*ckness, no shipping].
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 27
Kudos: 376





	1. Meeting up

**Author's Note:**

> First Chapter is just a chill one, but more's to come very soon and Chapter 2 is almost done! :D

It was the 23rd of December and finally, after a year of building their friendship online, Tommy and Wilbur were about to meet up.

Tommy was to spend a night at Wilbur's house over in Brighton, as well as the next day on Christmas Eve, before being picked up by 'fatherinnit' that evening, right in time for Christmas Day.

Tommy and his dad had begun the drive to Brighton at 11am that morning and by hell it was a long one.

Due to the thick layers of snow that winter had gifted, traffic was awful, but that didn't matter to Tommy. Spending five hours cramped up in a car was fine, as long as his friend was waiting at the end of it. He couldn't wait.

Wilbur was excited too, despite being slightly nervous about the responsibility looking after the younger boy. The older guy loved he and Tommy's friendship online, and he was looking forward to seeing how that dynamic would play out once they were together in person.

~~~~~

Tommy eventually arrived at 4:40pm, watching his Dad drive away through Wilbur's front window before turning to face him,

"Pog!"

Wilbur immediately face palmed, laughing. Of course the first thing Tommy said when they met up would be 'pog'.

"Pog indeed!" He agreed through his laughter, gently shoving Tommy's shoulder, which earned an exaggerated "Ow! Fuck you."

After showing Tommy to the spare room, Wilbur insisted on touring him around Brighton, there was nothing much to do at home anyway.

He pulled on the warmest coat he had, as well as a hat, scarf and gloves, while Tommy zipped up his own red jacket and did the same. Minus the hat.

"You don't have a hat?"

"Nah, i'll be fine though," the boy insisted, before stepping out into the biting cold and shivering.

Wilbur took one look at him before pointedly disagreeing.

"Yeah, no. It's freezing. First task of the evening; buy a hat for gremlin boy."

Tommy frowned good-naturedly at the nickname and thanked Wilbur profusely as they started down the sidestreets.

On the way to the shops, neither of them spoke much- simply enjoying the sound of fresh snow beneath their shoes and the sight of christmas lights around them. Their cold breath came out in clouds of vapour, which made Tommy inwardly chuckle as he considered saying a drug joke.

Once they'd escaped the maze of sidestreets and reached the main road, Wilbur lead Tommy to a sea-view beach store.

"Wil, this is a literal surf-shop," Tommy questioned ,"I thought we were looking for a hat?"

Wilbur smiled and tugged him inside, where electrical heating immediately began to melt any snow from their shoes.

When he looked up, Tommy was surprised to see an array of winter hats, scarfs and gloves hanging from the shelves, rather than the beach toys and surf boards he'd been expecting.

"Come on," Wilbur tugged him again. "Why do you look so shocked? Beach shops need to make money in the winter somehow Toms." 

Surprised by the new nickname but deciding not to make a deal out of it, Tommy made his way over to the hat section.

Despite his friend not giving a shit about the colour of his new hat, Wilbur made a show of having Tommy model every one of them, green; yellow; blue; nitted; fleece; until he found the perfect one.

"Hey, Tommy look!" 

He waved the boy over and once he was within arms distance, pulled said hat over his messy, blonde hair. Tommy frowned.

"What did you even put on my head?"

"It's red and white! Fits your brand, ey?"

Tommy huffed at his friend's excitement, just happy that they could finally leave this blasted shop.

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking around Brighton's many shops, arcades and other random tourist locations. By the time it turned six, they had managed to circle back round to the beach where the surf-shop was.

Tommy leaned against the railings which separated the beach from the main road, dangling his arms over them tiredly. He gazed out to sea, entranced by the icy waves and snow covered pebbles.

"You look a bit tired bro, we done for the day?"

Tommy stood up and shook his head. He wanted to drag out the day, knowing that he only had a short ammount of time to spend with his friend until he had to go home the next evening.

"Can we go on the beach Wil?"

Wilbur smiled and shoved him gently,  
"Fine, but don't blame me if we freeze to death down there."

And by that, they made their way onto the snow filled beach, carefully stepping over the uneven ground.

It was pretty. They stood together, only just out of reach from the waves, watching the sun as it slowly retreated. Oranges and pinks illuminated the snow around them, the cool sea breeze keeping them present, though no words were spoken. They wanted to enjoy this special moment together- though neither of them would admit to that.

As the sun's light was replaced by the moon's white glow, Wilbur thought about his day. 

He'd expected meeting up with Tommyinnit to be a fun time, spent trying to contain the hyper teenager and making many inappropriate jokes. But throughout the day, the younger boy's real, chill personality had come to show as they'd explored Brighton. 

Sure, they always joked about having a brotherly relationship online, but Wilbur felt a love and a protectiveness for Tommy that he couldn't explain. His lips curled up at the sides and he huffed out a laugh at his own emotions, interrupting the moment.

Speaking of interrupting the moment..


	2. Snowballs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy begins the feel under the weather :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ik there isn't fluff these first two chapters, but it's coming in chapter 3 :)
> 
> Also, thanku for leaving comments and im glad ur enjoying this so far!

"WATCH OUT BITCH!"

Wilbur flinched as a snowball hit him square in the side of the head. He barely had any time to process what had just happened before he was snowballed again, in the chest this time. He turned around to see Tommy doubled over in laughter a few metres away.

In return, Wilbur quickly made his own ball of snow and chucked it towards Tommy, striking him in the throat and laughing as the boy coughed and spluttered.

It wasn't long before both of them were frantically scraping up snow, pummeling each other with it and scrambling about whilst spoiling the smoothness of the beach and turning it into sleet with their footprints.

They played and fought for a long time, screaming and laughing without a care in the world, for they were the only two people on the beach. It was joyous, the most christmassy Wilbur had felt in years.

Tommy was having a great time too- any tiredness from earlier long forgotten.

Well, almost long forgotten.

Once the adrenaline from the snowball fight had calmed and they were leaving the beach, Tommy's eyes quickly began to droop.

He could feel water in his shoes from snow that had melted, and after his heart had stopped pumping from running around, he began to shiver.

But despite the physical challenges, he was still enjoying himself, and when Wilbur offered to take him to his favourite café for a late tea, Tommy accepted without hesitation. Maybe food would give him the energy he needed to walk home, anyway.

~~~~~

The café was a lovely little place. It had golden christmas lights strung up at the front, creating a spotlight for the range of cake displays in the window. It looked warm and inviting inside.

The staff greeted Wilbur, whom they knew as he was a regular, before seating them by the window and giving them each a menu.

Maybe it was just the heating, but Tommy felt himself burning up as soon as he entered the place. He felt both freezing cold and boiling hot at the same time, and was exhausted.  
He leant his forehead against the cool glass of the window and closed his eyes for a short moment, before feeling somebody tap his shoulder.

"You alright there Toms?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah i'm just a bit hot in here, don't worry about me big man." He replied, "What are you getting?"

Wilbur pointed at the chicken, a little concerned by Tommy's glossy eyes and reddened cheeks. The kid was probably just recovering after being outside for so long, right?

Tommy looked at the menu, not feeling in the mood to eat despite the long day, and chose the tomato soup.

~~~~~

They finished eating at 8pm and tipped the staff before making their way home in pitch dark.

As soon as they arrived at Wilbur's place, they decided to watch a movie and both went to their rooms in order to put pajamas on.

Tommy dressed in his black and blue tartan pants, a white shirt, and pulled a blue hoodie over the top, just to feel cozy.

He headed downstairs to see Wilbur already on the couch, in christmass pajamas, evidently scrolling through Netflix to find a good film.

"Hey!" The man waved him over, "Any ideas on what to watch?"

Tommy sat beside Wilbur and crossed his legs,  
"It's Christmas Eve in less than four hours, so i feel like we're obligated to watch a festive movie, right?"

Wilbur agreed and they eventually settled on a film called "Lost Christmas".

Wilbur's original plan was to make hot chocolate and bring it into the living room, but that plan was deemed a fail when Tommy fell asleep not even 15 minutes into the film.

Wilbur was engrossed in it's storyline until a sudden weight against his side intervened. He glanced down to see a mess of blonde curls upon his shoulder, where Tommy had fallen in his sleep.

Wilbur sat still for a few minutes, scared to move incase he woke the boy. He tried to concentrate on the film, but soon got bored without his protegé making occasional funny comments and jokes in the background.

He slowly moved his arm to grab the remote and switched off the TV. No point in finishing the movie without his pal after all.

He considered waking Tommy up so that they could both just go upstairs and sleep in their own rooms, but the teenager looked peaceful when he slept, and the thought of distrubing made him feel guilty.

The man decided that he'd rather let his guest sleep on the couch. 

Moving carefully, he held Tommy's head with both hands, as if he were trying not to snap a baby's neck, onto the couch and turned his body so that he was lying on his side. Then, he quickly ran upstairs to grab a blanket from the spare room, carrying it over to the boy and tucking it around him.

Miraculously, he didn't wake up.

"Tuck gremlin boy in, task complete."  
Wilbur took a moment to stand back and admire his handiwork before flicking the light switch and leaving the room.


	3. Fever

Tommy woke with a start, feeling disorientated. Head pounding, sweat clinging to his skin.

It took several seconds for him to realise that he was lying on Wilbur's couch and not in his own bed at home. He remembered watching a film last night, but couldn't recall falling asleep like this.

He could feel the weight of a blanket that was tucked around his body in a slightly odd, but comfortable way, which he recognised as the red one from the spare room.

Unable to see much else due to the fact that it was still dark outside, he decided to check the time on his phone.

4:12am

Oh, Wilbur was probably still asleep then.

Accepting that it would be impossible to go back to sleep with such a bad headache, Tommy stood up to try and find a light switch, only to fall back onto the couch. Upon standing too quickly, his legs had become wobbly and his vision swayed with dizziness.

Slouching back and shutting his eyes, he took a few deep breaths and waited for the swaying to pass.

He needed to cool down.

Steadily dragging his feet into the kitchen, with the blanket dangling from his shoulders, Tommy clambered up onto a bar stool and lay his head on the cold marble of the worktop.

The slight change in temperature helped a bit. But he was still too weak to pull off his hoodie, the little energy he had left was gone after stumbling from one room to another.

He desperately wanted to call Wilbur for help but was too embarrased. He was sixteen years old for fucks sake, the older man would probably think that he was acting immature and send him home.

Suddenly, his lungs constricted and he coughed, halting his thoughts. It was dry and made his throat sting badly, but he was too tired to get water.

Everything felt horrible. Fuck it, he needed help.

In a haze, he scrolled through his contacts and called the only person who was nearby.

~~~~~

Wilbur was woken up by the sound of his ringtone and considered ignoring it and going back to sleep, but his morals told him better.

Nikki only lived a 25 minute drive away, what if she needed help?

He squinted at the phone's light, surprised to see the contact name 'Tommyinnit'.

Why the hell was Tommy calling him at 4:17am, from downstairs? Why was he even awake?

He hesitantly answered, expecting some sort of prank call.

"Hello?"

No reply.

"Tommy?"

He turned the call volume up and heard breathing.

"Wil?" The boy spoke finally, which usually would have been a relief, but he sounded awful. His voice was painfully weak and scratchy.

A cough erupted through the phone, making Wilbur jump as he turned the call volume back down.

"Woah, okay. One sec, i'll come downstairs."

He ended the call, scared about his friend. Tommy wasn't the kind of person to willingly ask for help, so whatever was wrong had to be bad. Besides, what would Tommy's parents do to him if they found out he'd let their child get ill the day before Christmas? Shit.

Once he found Tommy, he was greeted by the sorry sight of his friend looking extremely pale with his head on the worktop. He had the blanket that Wilbur had given him strewn over his back, and was shaking like a leaf.

Wilbur had always imagined that in a situation like this he'd be awkward or simply wouldn't know what to do. But seeing Tommy in such a vunerable state made him feel weirdly protective.

Perhaps it was because he usually only saw the confident, comedic side of 'Tommyinnit' on streams and videos. Seeing him like this was new. He looked almost childlike- a reminder of how much younger he was than the 24 year old.

Wilbur stood beside Tommy, who still hadn't moved or spoken, and ran his fingers once through the boy's hair.

It was damp and hot, enough evidence for Wilbur to know that his friend was running a fever.

"You're burning up," he spoke, earning a quiet, 'Mhm' in return.

Trying his best to remember what his own mother did to bring down childhood fevers, he set out to find a thermometer.

When he arrived back at the kitchen with the device in his hand, Tommy seemed the same as before, making no noise other than the occasional cough or sniffle, and still shaking.

Wilbur gently brushed back Tommy's fringe to encourage any sort of response, which proved succesful when the boy weakly lifted his head to look up at him. 

The teenager's eyes were glassy, his skin was radiating an immense ammount of heat and he was barely managing to keep his head up. He was completely helpless.

Wilbur smiled at him in reassurance before instructing him to open up and placing the thermometer underneath his tongue.

100.2 degrees.

"Thank fuck," Wilbur muttered, glad that Tommy's fever wasn't too high. Nothing that couldn't be cured at home.

Not that he actually knew how to cure a fever, but that was a problem for later. Right now, he wanted his friend to get some rest.

"You don't have a dangerously high fever or anything, so i'll get you some painkillers and you can sleep on the couch again or something, sound good?"

Tommy immediately shook his head, face turning red in embarrassment before he replied,  
"I- i don't know.. if i want to sleep on my own.."

He felt himself tearing up in humiliation. This stupid fever was making him hyper-emotional or some shit, but before he could cry, Wilbur jumped in.

"No! No it's fine, don't worry, do you want to sleep in my room?"

"Yes please," Tommy mumbled guiltily, though Wilbur didn't mind one bit.

Once they were in Wilbur's room, Tommy was led to the bed and Wilbur gestured for him to sit down. He sat on the edge of the bed, red blanket still wrapped around him tightly.

Tommy flinched when he suddenly felt hands removing it.

"Don't worry," he heard Wilbur saying.  
"I'm just taking your hoodie off, or your going to burst into actual flames."

Wilbur carefully removed Tommy's hoodie, revealing a sweat-soaked shirt beneath. The white fabric was practically see through and sticking to his chest. 

It had to come off.

"Toms, I think i'm going to have to take off your shirt aswell bro," Wilbur continued, trying his best not to make the boy too uncomfortable.

"Ey, am a minor." Tommy slurred back, which made Wilbur laugh out loud. Despite his state, he was still hilarious.

The boy let Wilbur remove his shirt without fuss, too sleepy after staggering up a flight of stairs to care.

Afterwards, the man had him choke down a couple of painkillers with cold water, which lessened his shakiness, before finally letting him lie down.

Tommy left his blanket on the floor and curled up under the duvet. He let his head fall onto a pillow and It smelt like Wilbur's cologne, it was nice.

With the mixture of both medication and illness beginning to take affect on Tommy's brain, he shuffled closer to Wilbur and lay his head on the same pillow as his friend without thinking. He moved even closer so that his head lay in the crook of the man's neck.

Wilbur tensed at the sudden contact before relaxing. He reached his hand out to brush Tommy's arm soothingly.

Despite not being one for too much physical contact himself, the boy in front of him made their situation feel natural and watching his friend fall asleep was oddly calming.

A smile tugged at Wilbur's lips when Tommy wrapped an arm around his front, and he held the boy in his own securely, completely melting.

Maybe this moment was worth being punished by Fatherinnit.

As he began to fade away, Tommy pretended not to hear Wilbur whisper, "Love you buddy," and fell soundly asleep, safe in his big brother's arms..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was okay, get ready for Nikki content in Chapter 4!


	4. Christmas eve pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niki visits :)

Tommy woke up hot and sweaty for a second time, still fatigued despite resting. However, he was much less delirious than before.

He took a moment to remember everything that had happened, embarrased now that his mind was clear. What if he'd gone too far and Wilbur had felt uncomfortable? Is that why he'd woken up on his own?

After putting on a shirt and struggling down the stairs, he stood awkwardly at the kitchen entrance and watched Wilbur make toast. Until a cough forced it's way up his throat, announcing his presence.

The man turned around and smiled,  
"Ah, gremlin boy has arrived.."

Tommy scoffed at the overused joke, relieved that his friend didn't seem pissed.

"Feeling any better?"

"Still hot, still dizzy, headache came back," he mumbled with a shrug.

"Yeah, you do look pretty miserable," Wilbur frowned.  
"About that, Niki's on her way. Apparently i'm a shit doctor."

He and Niki had called earlier that morning, the woman exasperated by Wilbur sending Tommy to bed on painkillers without even trying to reduce his fever first.

"Clearly," Tommy joked, making his friend laugh.

Wilbur prepared toast for each of them and they sat at the kitchen island to eat. Well, Wilbur ate. Tommy just pushed his food around, still feeling peaky.

He decided that now would be a better time than ever to bring up earlier's events.

"Listen Wil," he started, gathering the man's attention with his serious tone. "I'm really sorry about this morning. My brain was all fucked and i didn't mean to get so close to you, i promise i'll never do anything wierd like that again and i pr-"

"Woah, woah!" Wilbur cut in, reaching across the table to place a hand on Tommy's shoulder.

"I'm honest when i say that i didn't mind one bit, okay? As long as you're happy and comfortable, so am i."

Overwhelmingly relieved, Tommy looked up and wispered something so quiet that it was barely audible.

"Can I have a hug?"

Without hesitation, Wilbur stood and moved around the table to envelop the younger boy in his arms.

"I heard what you said, when you thought i was asleep."

Wilbur froze.

"I love you too." Tommy whispered.

The two of them stood hugging wordlessly for a long time, taking in what had just happened, before they were interrupted by knocking.

"That'll be Niki," Wilbur announced, parting from Tommy to let her in.

He opened the front door to see the woman dawning several layers of winter clothing. She held a streaming glass pot, which was insulated by some sort of tablecloth.

After quickly greeting each other, they switched places- Wilbur putting on a coat and slipping out of the door whilst Niki removed her own and headed inside.

She found Tommy still sat in the kitchen. He looked up at waved, slightly nervous since he'd never actually met her in person before.

"A real life woman?" He gasped dramatically, immediately breaking the ice as they both giggled.

"I've come to rescue you," Niki proclaimed.  
"Wil clearly doesn't know how to break a fever."

"Where is he?" Tommy asked, wondering why the man hadn't come back yet.

"Oh, he left the house for, uh groceries! Yeah, he's buying groceries."

Niki stumbled through her words, causing the boy to furrow his eyebrows in suspicion, though he didn't have the energy to question further.

"Wil told me that you left a good amount of your breakfast untouched, so i brought you soup. Might help to settle your stomach."

Ah, so that's what the glass pot was.

Unlike his breakfast, Tommy managed to finish a bowl of Niki's soup, it was much easier to swallow with a sore throat. Plus, she was an amazing cook.

Once they had both finished eating, Tommy looked as if he were about to fall asleep right then and there, so Niki led him to the couch.

She gave his condition a quick checkover, taking his temperature first.

99.8 degrees. An improvement, but still too high.

Next, a wet cloth was placed over Tommy's forehead in attempt to cool him down some more, and he was given painkillers for his headache.

"You should sleep until Wilbur gets back, anything you need?" Niki asked.

"Red blanket, it's in Wil's bedroom." Tommy answered feebly. For some reason, he'd gained quite a liking for the thing.

When Niki came back, the last thing he expected was for her to curl up beside him and pull the blanket over them both.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Wilbur told me about what happened," Niki interjected before he could finish.  
"I know that you're clingy when you're s*ck."

Not even bothering to argue, and not wanting to, Tommy snuggled closer to the woman and closed his eyes, falling soundly asleep in seconds.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, Wilbur was back on Brighton's highstreet, at the same shops that he and Tommy had visited the day prior.

And he wasn't buying groceries.

Before his friend woke up that morning, Wilbur phoned Tommy's parents, explaining the situation. During the call, they'd discussed the fact that Tommy was meant to be travelling home later that evening, but the thought of forcing him to sit in a car for 5 hours when he was ill was a cruel one.

So they all agreed that the teenager should stay with wilbur for an extra day..

An extra day which just so happened to fall on Christmas.

That was what lead Wilbur to the situation he was in now, frantically searching Brighton's shops for the perfect christmas gift. 

He signed an oath in his head, determined to make Tommy's christmas a special one- since he couldn't be with his family this year..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna upload the Christmas day chapter on Christmas and i have one day so SPEEDRUN TIME.
> 
> Also thankyou for your comments, i'm feeling a little better today, pog!


	5. Christmas Eve pt.2

Wilbur stamped his shoes on the porch to rid of any snow before fumbling around with his keys and entering the house. 

Shuddering at its' indoor heat, which shocked him compared to the freezing temperatures outside, he took off his shoes and coat. He'd been expecting some sort of commotion at his arrival, but upon poking his head into the lounge, he saw that his friends were snuggled together, Tommy fast asleep.

Niki turned to face him, gesturing for the man to stay quiet before carefully clambering out of Tommy's blanket.

~~~~~

It was about an hour until Tommy stirred, glancing up to see Wilbur watching tv. He sat up, less drowsy than before.

"Where's Niki?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching.

"She went home you clingy little shit," Wilbur answered wittingly, moving to sit beside the boy.

The older man took a deep breath- preparing to break the news to Tommy that he wasn't going home for christmas.

Might aswell get it over and done with.

"So, how are you feeling about the five hour car journey back home tonight?" He started, breaking their silence.

Tommy groaned and put his head in his hands. He'd forgotten about travelling home later on- and a long car journey while he was this ill would surely be hell.

"I feel rubbish, this is going to be so shit."

"Exactly, that's why your parents and i agreed that you should stay with me over Christmas." Wilbur exclaimed, hoping that he hadn't been too direct. 

"Huh?"

Too direct.

As expected, Tommy was disappointed. As much as he loved being with Wilbur, spending Christmas day without his family just wouldn't be the same. Plus, all of his gifts were at home.

He felt his eyes water at the thought and buried his face into Wilbur's jumper, trying to hide his tears whilst looking for comfort.

"I'm sorry bro," his friend wispered. He turned and lifted Tommy's chin so that the boy was facing him, then reached out to wipe away his tears.

"Christmas is going to be great, don't you worry," he promised, sincerely. A promise that he would never break.

~~~~~

The afternoon was relaxed. Both boys settled on playing minecraft together.

Since they couldn't stream or go on the smp (their fans were unaware of their meetup), the two logged onto hypixel and played bedwars.

Despite Tommy choking and coughing every time he screamed too loud, they had a blast. Playing together in person seemed to make everything funnier. Plus, they could whack each other in the face when they raged, unlike on discord.

Wierd plus, but still a plus to them.

In the end, Wilbur topped the scoreboard with two more wins than Tommy.

"Wilbur Soot never dies!" He shouted, in attempt to drown out Tommy's protests.

~~~~~

It was early evening when Tommy began to feel worn out once again, skipping dinner in favour of showering and then heading up to bed. Wilbur allowed him, hanging back with the excuse of editing.

In reality, he had no videos to edit at all. The reason why he needed to stay downstairs was to make Tommy's Christmas present, ready for the next day.

Yes, not just to wrap it up, to make it.

He retrieved his shopping bag from the cupboard where it had been hidden, opening it and tipping it upside down to reveal it's contents.

Two balls of yarn, red and blue, as well as a pair of knitting needles fell onto the carpet in a clutter and he gritted his teeth, pausing to see if he'd accidentally woken his friend.

When there was no response, he continued his mission. He spent way too long scrolling through the many 'Easy blanket- knitting' tutorials on youtube until he found a simple enough pattern to follow.

His creation started off messy, with wool sticking out in all the wrong places and yarn slipping off his needles every few minutes. 

He was on the verge of raging when finally, he started to get the hang of things.

Tommy's blanket became neater as it grew, the side that Wilbur started on easily telligable from the rest.

Though he felt a little like an old woman, Wilbur secretly enjoyed laerning this new skill, and once he'd gotten the hang of it, knitting was actually quite relaxing.

By the time he had finally Completed the blanket, it was 3:30am, early on Christmas morning.

The blanket was both a beginner's monstrosity and a homemade beauty, with red and blue stripes displayed across it, each slightly wonky.

It was made with genuine love, all that mattered to Wilbur- And Tommy deserved all of the love in the world and more.

The man wrapped up Tommy's new blanket and placed it underneath the tree. He headed upstairs, and smiled as he walked in to see Tommy in his bed instead of the spare room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The knitting part is based on me last year when i knitted a whole ass scarf for my grandma on Christmas Eve by using a youtube tutorial akdjjskedjw.
> 
> Christmas chapter should be up sometime tomorrow on Christmas day, Happy Christmas Eve!
> 
> (It's legit 15 minutes till christmas in England and im not even in bed help)


	6. Christmas day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretend that i posted this chapter on christmas and not THE END OF FREAKING JANUARY.
> 
> I hope that this was worth the wait, it's pretty fast-paced but there's still more to come :D

It was Christmas morning and Wilbur woke up at 9:30, still tired from the night before. He didn't mind one bit though, since the excitement of giving Tommy his gift left no room for annoyance.

He shifted, noticing a warm body up against his own, arms tangled in his loose shirt. He fought an urge to 'aw' at the boy who was cuddled up warmly, before reluctantly interrupting Tommy's slumber.

Upon being nudged awake, Tommy yawned and opened his eyes to the sight of his friend looming over him.

It was creepy.

"Move!" He laughed, shoving the man away,  
"Why were you like.. in my face?"

"You little shit, you're clearly feeling a lot better today. You wouldn't have been able to shove me like that before!" Wilbur giggled, glad to see Tommy acting more like himself.  
"It's christmas!"

Realising what day it was, Tommy's expression fell. He wanted so badly to enjoy himself, but Christmas simply didn't feel the same without family.

He quickly looked away, wiping his eyes with his sleeve before turning to face his friend with a sigh.

"Merry christmas, Wilbur."

Wilbur was saddened to see his friend so unhappy on such a special day, but it only stirred him on further. He grinned, reminding himself of the oath that he'd signed to make Tommy's christmas a great one. He certainly wasn't going to break that promise now.

"Come with me, i have something for you." The man said, standing all of a sudden and hoisting Tommy up aswell by grabbing a hold of the boy's wrist.

"Hey! What's going on?" Tommy questioned, confused.

Met with no reply, he allowed himself to be hauled out of their bedroom, trusting Wilbur his hand whilst being lead downstairs. 

They arrived at the living room entrance, where Wilbur finally let go of Tommy's arm. The man made his way over to the couch, gesturing for Tommy to sit on the carpet beside the tree.

Sitting cross-legged, Tommy's hands tapped the ground at his sides in nervous anticipation for whatever was going on.

He glanced at the only gift beneath the tree. It was moderately sized and wrapped messily.

"What is it?" He asked, an excited smile daring to replace his frown.

"Unrap it Toms," Wilbur giggled, waiting for him to pick it up.

Tommy did as told, fumbling underneath the tree and pulling out the gift- which felt light in his hands.

Not wanting to seem too eager, he took his time unraveling whatever was inside. Once the paper had a big enough rip in it, he pulled out what appeared to be something knitted.

He unfolded it to reveal a beautiful red and blue striped blanket. It was big and soft and he fell in love with it right away.

"Woah, thanks bro!" He said, grinning from ear to ear. Wilbur grinned back at him, pleased that the present had been recieved well.

"I made it myself, last night," Wilbur announced proudly, causing Tommy to gasp in surprise. He admired the gift, amazed by Wilbur's knitting skills.

"I noticed that you'd taken quite a liking to the spare-room blanket, so i wanted to make my own special one for you," The man exclaimed.

"There are red stripes because it's your favourite colour-"

Tommy nodded in agreement, and ran his hand along one of them.

"-and there are blue ones because, well, when i'm playing as ghostbur on the Dream SMP i always give you 'blue' to cheer you up, right?"

Realising that Wilbur had given him 'blue' in real life because his parents weren't there for christmas, Tommy's face lit up.

He immediately stood and leapt forward, falling into Wilbur's arms.

"Thankyou so much Wil," he whispered,   
"You're the best big brother i could ever wish for."

Upon hearing those words, Wilbur's heart soared and he could barely contain his happiness. He simply held the boy tighter, a moment that would secure their forever bond.

It felt like hours before he finally pulled away to look Tommy in the eyes.

"You're the best little brother i could ever wish for, Toms. I love you so, so much."

Tommy beamed, the brightest and most genuine smile he'd ever felt before. 

His heart felt a little less empty at his parents being far away, a little more full knowing that his brother was close by.

~~~~~

Wilbur quickly learned that his ability to cook Christmas food was nonexistent.

He had been running back and forth in the kitchen for a few hours now, and after burning several rounds of sausages and ruining the Yorkshire puddings, he was beginning to lose hope.

Tommy was sat watching him struggle at the kitchen island, in the same seat as two days prior. Though this time he was laughing and screaming instead of half dead.

The two had been arguing back and forth, light-heartedly, while Wilbur attempted to salvage their inedible meal.

"How the fuck are you so bad at this?" Tommy mocked, hitting the table with laughter and struggling to breathe.

"Stop bullying me! Why don't you actually be resourceful for once and give me a hand?!" Wilbur retorted.

"My head still hurts when i stand for too long, and do you not hear my cough? I'm offended."

Wilbur huffed, opening the oven door one last time to reveal yet another burnt mess. 

"Those were the last sausages," he mumbled in embarrassment. Whatever, at least they had fun?

The boys ended up eating fish & chips from a local takeaway, which was an unusual alternative to 'christmas dinner' but tasted good all the same. 

Tommy didn't eat quite as much as Wilbur, but with his illness coming to a close, he managed more than he'd consumed in the last two days combined.

~~~~~

The afternoon passed by quickly, mostly spent watching YouTube videos and videocalling friends. Tommy also took a nap at some point, still needing some extra sleep to aid his recovery.

Speaking of naps, Wilbur had gone to his bedroom to check on the kid after about an hour, only to find his bed empty.

The man hadn't panicked, per-say, though he had searched the house rather frantically, hoping that his brother hadn't been kidnapped or something.

He looked out of his front window and scanned the area, only to find Tommy sat on the porch step.

He appeared deep in thought, subconsciously messing with snow in one hand and gazing at nothing in particular. The blasted kid wasn't even wearing a coat! That would surely do him no good whilst his body was trying to heal.

Wilbur shook his head disaprovingly, setting out to grab some much needed resources.

A few minutes later, Tommy's thoughts were disturbed by the sound of the froot door opening. 

"Take this."

He turned to see a mug of hot chocolate being held out to him and took it, gratefully breathing in the warmth of its' steam. He hadn't realised just how cold he was before. 

Wilbur seated himself on the step beside Tommy, tossing a blanket over both of their knees. The younger smiled, noticing that it was the one Wilbur made for him.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Today, I enjoyed myself."

"So did i," Wilbur answered, voice quiet.

They sat in silence for a while, peacefully reminiscing their time together.

Wilbur was first to speak.

"You weren't the only person who needed family today, you know."

Tommy looked up at his brother quizically, who was staring ahead. The man took a deep breath before continuing.

"I left my childhood home at eighteen, from then on i slowly lost contact with my parents. Suppose we were never all that close anyway. Niki has family to visit on Christmas so i usually spend it alone, drinking wine and feeling like shit."

Tommy remained silent, unsure of what to say at the sudden revelation.

"But this year i had you."

Nothing more was said after that, nothing more needed to be said. They simply sat on the front step together, watching the sky grow darker as evening came.

They had each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on writing one more chapter and a epilogue which will kinda be like another chapter?? (This could change)
> 
> Anyway, SMILE, DRINK WATER, BE POGGERS, HAVE A NICE DAY!!!


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